The victim was 17 years old when she told police that Jayson Francisco Song had coaxed her into his truck and convinced her to smoke ice with him before he sexually assaulted her repeatedly over the course of a day. Now, nearly three years later, the victim took to the stand to continue to testify against her attacker.
Jayson Song hunched over the defense table, pen in hand, writing, as the woman he is accused of kidnapping and raping was drilled by defense attorney David Lujan in what appeared to be an attempt to poke holes in the victim’s testimony.
Lujan immediately began questioning the victim about a statement she wrote on Dec. 1, 2016, about 29 days after the incident occurred.
Lujan’s focus was on the description of the knife the victim provided to police, identifying the knife as being orange in color, about seven to eight inches in length and serrated.
As Lujan questioned the victim, he held in his hand the knife entered into evidence by the prosecution, arguing that the knife in evidence was not the same knife the victim described as it is red in color and not serrated.
Lujan stated: “Yet, they put you on to testify that that is the knife.”
The victim responded: “Yes, that’s true.”
This prompted Lujan to state that the victim was first shown the knife two weeks ago and knew that it was the wrong knife.
Lujan’s assertions to the court raised objections from prosecuting attorney Lenny Rapadas who objected on the basis of hearsay to which Lujan argued back that the victim is the witness and the only one there during the commission of the crime.
When the allegations against Song arose, he had told police that the sex was consensual and that the victim had asked him to smoke ice that day. He also claimed that the allegations against him were only being made because the victim’s mother was blackmailing him for money.
Trial will continue on Tuesday.
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